Second Gothamist Piece

By Reverend Billy Talen · January 24, 2015

24

January 2015

The Gothamist is where I was identified by name as a person who had "attacked" police officers. This piece was published at about the time I got out of jail, on January 7th, after my sleepover in the Tombs. Turns out - how predictable - the Gothamist writer was taking the violent language from a Murdoch paper, the New York Post, which plays fast and loose with violence, to put it mildly.

Lauren Evans, who has written both the Gothamist entries, knew I was the one arrested, and so it was here that the false claim of aggression came together with my identity. It was the first place I read it, reading later the accounts in the Post and another Murdoch paper, the Wall Street Journal. Ms. Evans had tried to reach me, but phoned while I was in the Tombs, and then posted the story the next day - so my denial was missing. But it aint missing in this second story!

I want to thank the Gothamist and Lauren Evans for sticking with it and completing the story. When such defamation takes place, you do the best you can to get the counter-story out there. So we want to thank any media that helps us correct the record. The dispiriting thing is that the police and protesters were both peaceful. This slander comes from a professional spin-doctor who works as a spokesperson for the vast transportation agency of New York City, the MTA. He is like a corporate marketer, and doesn't think that his statements might have a human consequence.